


Up or Down

by danyelliott



Category: Lie to Me (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-13
Updated: 2018-03-13
Packaged: 2019-03-31 02:13:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13965141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/danyelliott/pseuds/danyelliott
Summary: "You call me your girl, Cal, not the other way around."





	Up or Down

Something rose in him. Something he could only name jealousy. And disgust.

Cal was watching Gillian talk to this guy, the police officer, who he assumed kept pushing her to go out with him, and by Gillian's face, and a few steps she made back as the officer made them to her, he thought she didn't really enjoy it. Just the opposite - the man was repulsive to her.

"Oi, love." Cal marched into the office, catching the officer off guard and making him visibly uncomfortable. "This guy bothering you?" He walked to Gillian, whose face reflected nothing but relief, and slid his hand around her waist, kissing her on the cheek and then turning to the officer, raising his eyebrows just a bit. "You tryin' to steal my girl here?"

"N-No, of course not. We were just talking about..."He swallowed. "About the case. The one we're working on. With the kidnapping."

"Brian, was it?" The officer nodded, and Cal resumed. "Well, Brian, do you know what we do here? Cause it doesn't seem like it."

"I do." He replied hesitantly.

"You stammered. You swallowed. You gave too many details." The officer looked down, ashamed, and for a moment Cal felt sorry for him. He was very young, probably just taking his chances with a good looking, mature woman. "She's way out of your league."

"Cal..." Gillian started, but was cut off by a single look. His hand was still resting on her waist, squeezing her reassuringly. She rolled her eyes with a hint of a smile and looked back at the officer.

"You will walk out of here now, and we'll pretend this never happened, yeah?" Brian nodded, smiling weakly but gratefully. "But if this ever happens again, Brian" Cal released Gillian, walking into the space of the young officer, making his face fall down yet again. "I will personally make you regret it. Got it?"

"Yes, sir." Brian nodded once more, and basically ran out of the office before Cal had anything else to add or change his mind.

While Cal never had some physical strength, his face, his words and the tone he spoke them in - they could be frightening. Just the fact that he loved invading someone's personal space was enough for them to lose their balance a bit. The title probably helped too, since he was the one able to tell the truth by a twitch of an eyebrow. All in all, it was enough to scare away a young, full of energy, officer who was trying to get a girl he liked. And that made him unbelievably proud of himself.

"What was that about?" Gillian asked in an amused tone, walking around her table full of papers she was supposed to go over, and sat comfortably in her chair.

"You were uncomfortable. Saw you two while passin' by." Cal shrugged his shoulders, turning to her and noticing a small, blue figure on her table. "What's this? Supposed to be a cat?"

"Leave my toys alone, Cal." She rose from her seat, reaching forward to take the little, funny figure she got from a daughter of a very grateful client. But Cal pulled back before she could get it.

"So you like playing with toys, huh? Good to know." He smirked, putting the figure then on the table.

"You know, sometimes it's annoying how you don't even try to hide satisfaction and amusement." She took the figure, putting it back to her papers, where it originally was.

Always so clean and neat, Cal thought to himself, smiling a bit at the fact. "Isn't that why you love me, darlin'?" He turned around to exit the office, considering the talk over, but Gillian's words were faster than him.

"I'd say it's the other way around. You call me your girl, Cal, not the other way around." At this point, the conversation was over for her too, and it was interesting for them, from time to time, to fight over whose word is going to be the last.

Cal turned around, walked around her table, surprising her with his actions, and most of all, by a gentle kiss on her cheek. It wasn't rare that they kissed on the cheek, but this wasn't one of those situations. It was a way of saying "hi" or "goodbye", but never for no reason. Oh, well, not like this didn't didn't have its own purpose.

"You are my girl, love. The question is: am I your guy?" And with that, the conversation truly was over, because before she could come to her senses he was already outside her office.

That's not fair. You can't just do that and leave me feeling like this.

That's not fair.

It's been hours since he said it and a minute has not passed that she didn't think about it. Maybe he said it as a joke, or as a tease, but from all she learned so far, from all she knew, just from the tone of his voice - he was being honest. And she couldn't ignore it. No one ever voiced it, not even after they kissed for a case. After that they pretended it didn't happen, they pretended it didn't wake something, but it passed, and they got used to it. But this was Cal. He was all actions and no words. And suddenly he said something. He said something that made her a mess, and she was never a mess. She always knew what to do and almost always could put aside her personal issues while at work, but this time the issue was at work, and even when she was close to thinking about anything else, he'd pass by, or ask her to do something for her. The worst thing was that she saw no change in him, it almost made her doubt he ever did what he did, or said what he said. But she had to make sure.

So she waited until the offices were empty and they were the only two people left in the building. It happened on rare occasions, that he stayed in this long, but it had been a tough day and she assumed this was how it was going to play out in the end.

She checked how she looked once again, ran her hands over her shirt to straighten it and headed for his office.

"Do you want to be?" That was all she asked and while the first second there was surprise and ignorance on his face, the very next there was recognition.

"I'm not following, love." He was on his way out, she realized, seeing him with his coat on and the lights turned off.

"You asked if you were my guy, Cal. I'm asking you now: Do you want to be?" If there wasn't a tremble in her voice, he would have said she was absolutely calm. Her posture was serious, not even her eyes gave her away.

It must be important. You must be incredibly scared to be so calm. "You've always been my girl, Gil." He shrugged his shoulders, as if the answer was obvious. And it was. It was obvious to everyone but them.

"Then why... Why did you wait this long, Cal?" The walls were down and suddenly her face showed she was desperate for answers.

"Cause I'm a chicken when it comes to you, love. I was never gonna say it first." He made a step towards her, scanning her shocked face. "And I don't deserve you. I never did. You're the..."

"Stop it." And he really did. He stopped moving, speaking, probably breathing as well at this point. "Stop it." She repeated, more for herself, than for him. "Because you did mention it. And now I know. And now there is either up or down, Cal. It was alright for us to hang in the same place for years when we didn't know, but now... I have to move. I have to make a change."

And that's when the change happened indeed. Once again, she didn't see it coming, she didn't even realize it was happening before she felt it. They were kissing. He pressed his lips against hers and the same moment the picture disappeared and she closed her eyes, letting herself feel, instead of seeing.

"I do." Cal said, breaking one moment, but creating another. "I do want to be your guy, Gil. I always have."

Gillian nodded her head, letting a smile spread over her face, and she decided that for once, she was going to be all actions and no words. So she pulled him by his coat and kissed him again, telling him silently he always has been her guy.


End file.
